Published 11:45 pm, Tuesday, February 9, 2016

Midland Health’s laboratory has selected a new system to increase speed, efficiency and accuracy of its blood-compatibility testing.

Proper blood testing is essential throughout numerous areas of a hospital. Midland Health’s laboratory blood bank, located at the main campus, is now the first in the U.S. to implement the fully automated Grifols Erytra System.

A blood bank is blood or blood components, gathered as a result from either blood donation or collection, stored and preserved for later hospital use in blood transfusion.

The Grifols Erytra blood bank tests patients’ blood to determine type and identify possible incompatibilities, including unexpected antibodies that could cause patients to suffer rare, but serious immune system reactions.

Fortunately, Midland Health is now able to perform the testing necessary to provide blood products for a patient by decreasing both the time and variability inherent in both manual and semi-automated testing methods. In the event that blood is needed quickly, this system better allows the necessary testing to be performed in a more effective way.

The process, in turn, will aid in providing the needed blood to any patient in need.

“The Grifols Erytra system’s full automation, with its ability to handle continuous loading and prioritized STAT testing, directs the communication of results to our blood bank information system,” said Anne Skipper, transfusion service manager of Midland Health. “Clear, high-resolution digital readouts, all combine to improve laboratory efficiency and reduce the incidence of potential human error. Errors could result from manual handling, manual transcription of results, or visual (versus digital) assessment and interpretation of the tests.”

By providing a more proficient way to identify specific antibodies, the new system will also allow more time for compatible blood to be obtained in the event it was needed for a transfusion.